Malawi Mbuna setup - recommended substrate?

[BossRoss]

Hi,

I'm planning to setup a 3ft 55g malawi Mbuna tank. I have two different types of gravel available. Would they prefer typical aquarium gravel, or larger ~1cm round gravel? Or is there something else recommended for this type of setup?

Also, where is a good place in Vancouver area to get holey rock?

[Aquaman]

You would be better off using aragonite or at least crushed coral. They do better with a higher PH. You could put a bag in your filter , but in the tank helps as well.

[ngo911]

JL has caribsea aragonite sand for a pretty good price. It's fine enough for them to sift through as well as providing buffering to a pH of ~8. I highly reccommend sand as it allows you to see some entertaining behavior.

I've been told that fishworld in Langley has some holey rock for a good price, although I have yet to check it out. IPU also has holey rock but for more money.

[ninez]

Rogers (our sponsor, come on guys) have bulk crushed sand in various sizes!!!
@ $1.19 /lb if I remembered correctly.

IPU holey (limestone?) rock @ $2.79/lb if I remembered correctly

SUPPORT OUR SPONSOR

[-DC-]

Any sand will work, but you want a nice fine grade for the idea setup, Mbuna sift sand through there gills for feeding, and also use sand for breeding, so having a fine sand will give you best results.

If you do crushed coral i'd do a bag in the filter or something and stick with sand as a substrate.

[ninez]

crushed coral (sand) can be really fine too

[cichlid]

fine sand. I ended up taking an ice cream pale of sand out of my 25 gal, because one side of the glass was 4-5" deep, the other side of the tank was bare glass, because the 5" red zebra re-decorated my tank lol.

the small stuff is great as they can spit it out easy, the larger the rock the harder it is, and more chance of it getting caught in there mouths

[AfricanCichlids]

I tend to stay away from sand that is to fine because it clogs up, and decreases life of filters. These fish will do fine with just about anything, coral if ph needs a boost, or gravel that wont pass thru filters is what I use, and plenty rock work.

[taureandragon76]

All you have to do is put a prefilter on the intakes to stop the sand from being sucked in. I think sand is best because you see their true nature more.

[BossRoss]

Some good advice here. I hope to use sand and will look into a prefilter to prevent sand from damaging the filter. I understand from another thread that silica sand is not recommended as it damages gills... holey rock will increase PH too, right? I'm guessing i will need PH of about 7.8-8.0